“Not much. Seventy-two cents is too cheap. Now I’m going into this hard; and I want to have my own lines out⁠—to be independent of the trade papers that Crookes could buy up any time he wants to. I want you to get me some good, reliable correspondents in Europe; smart, bright fellows that we can depend on. I want one in Liverpool, one in Paris, and one in Odessa, and I want them to cable us about the situation every day.”

Gretry thought a while.

“Well,” he said, at length, “… yes. I guess I can arrange it. I can get you a good man in Liverpool⁠—Traynard is his name⁠—and there’s two or three in Paris we could pick up. Odessa⁠—I don’t know. I couldn’t say just this minute. But I’ll fix it.”

These correspondents began to report at the end of July. All over Europe the demand for wheat was active. Grain handlers were not only buying freely, but were contracting for future delivery. In August came the first demands for American wheat, scattered and sporadic at first, then later, a little, a very little more insistent.